Centre to revive Kulti unit if W B gov recommends it: Paswan

Kolkata, Jan 16 (UNI) The Centre is eager to revive the Kulti unit in Burnpur if it gets recommendations from West Bengal government, Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said here today.

Speaking on the sidelines of a programme, he said, " I have set up a committee to study the viability of Kulti unit. However, the state government must recommend before the revival starts." He mentioned that he has not received any such proposal yet.

Recently the 9,600-crore expansion and modernisation programme of IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) at Burnpur was inaugurated by the Prime Minister.

The investment in ISP is the single largest chunk out of the total investment that SAIL has decided to undertake as part of its Rs 37,000- crore corporate plan for 2011-12.

The plant's modernisation programme was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, union minister for chemicals&fertilisers, steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan and union information &broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi also participated in the event.

Once the pride of Bengal, IISCO which owned the Burnpur Steel plant, was a blue chip traded on the London Stock Exchange. Part of the state's industrial heritage, IISCO's decline in fortune was sharp and rapid. The plant was taken over by the government in 1972 and subsequently became a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIL in 1978-79.

However, it continued to be in the red and became a BIFR company in 1994. The government then decided to invite bids for privatisation of IISCO. Mitsui and Tyazhpromexport of Russia were the two contenders who were shortlisted in 1996 following a global bidding process.

But the process did not make much headway since bidders were keen to acquire controlling stake in the unit. The upturn in global steel cycle post 2002, saw a surge in fortunes of SAIL, IISCO's parent company. In February 2006, it was amalgamated with SAIL and renamed IISCO Steel plant (ISP).

The huge investment in IISCO Steel Plant entails the installation of a coke oven battery, two sinter machines, a new blast furnace of 4,600 cubic metres capacity, two billet casters and one blank/bloom caster, a universal section mill of 0.6 million tonne capacity and a wire rod and bar mill of 1.2 million tonne capacity.

UNI